Press Play with Madeleine Brand: California case: free speech v. abortion rightsCrisis pregnancy centers are generally run by pro-life groups that aim to convince pregnant women not to get abortions. A California law requires that employees tell their clients that the state offers free and low-cost abortions and other family planning services. Now a group of these centers is arguing that the law violates their freedom of speech.

UnFictionalUnbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed the world. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to the film The Outsiders. A secret road to a California paradise. The day LA and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. It’s UnFictional, hosted by Bob Carlson.

The DocumentThe Document is a new kind of mash-up between documentaries and radio. It goes beyond clips and interviews, mining great stories from the raw footage of documentaries present, past and in-progress. A new episode is available every other Wednesday on iTunes and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

FROM THIS EPISODE

This week, To the Point is in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Democratic National Convention gets underway tomorrow. We discuss the Party's unsettled relations with organized labor and about the issue of race since the election of America's first black president. Also, a new poll finds that the Republican convention changed few minds.

Banner image: A man carries a sign reading "Bring Jobs Home" as he marches in the Charlotte Labor Day Parade ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina September 3, 2012. Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

In Cleveland on this Labor Day, President Obama spoke to an audience of United Auto Workers. On Thursday, he will accept re-nomination here in Charlotte, from a convention where organized labor is playing a much smaller role than it has for decades. In a letter to union officials, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka wrote, "We will not be making major monetary contributions to the convention...we won't be buying skyboxes, boosting events... or bringing a big staff contingent to the convention." North Carolina is a right-to-work state. Are the Democrats turning their backs on a historic support group? Does organized labor still matter? We hear from labor leaders and others, including Occupy protesters in America's second largest financial center after New York.

To the Point is broadcasting live from the Democratic convention all week. You can find all our coverage at KCRW.org/election2012.

As we wait for the re-nomination of America's first black president, it's worth pointing out that Charlotte was a focal point of the Civil Rights movement and integration. The latest issue of the Atlantic magazine carries an article titled, "Fear of a Black President," which says of the Obama era: "He governs a national enlightened enough to send an African American to the White House, but not enlightened enough to accept a black man as president." Why is it so hard for Barack Obama to talk about the racial tensions that still exist four years after he was elected?